Gearbox defends in-game ads

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Mar 28, 2008 5:40 pm PT

Studio president Randy Pitchford insists the company won't turn Brothers-in-Arms into a commercial battlefield.

Earlier this week, developer Gearbox and in-game ad firm Double Fusion announced a partnership to explore advertising opportunities for the studio's upcoming games. While reader reaction wasn't entirely negative, there was no shortage of such sentiments as, "Ads have no place in games, period," or, "In-game advertising's victories are gamers' losses in the long run."

Concerned by the response to the announcement, Gearbox president Randy Pitchford today posted a blog entry addressing the company's approach to in-game advertising and assuring players that it would not be allowed to detract from upcoming projects.

"The smart and successful advertisers' goal is for you to trust and respect them," Pitchford wrote. "If their ads invade or injure our entertainment, we get angry and reject them. If, however, something feels natural and unintrusive, they get the value they were looking for...So, please don't judge us by the fact that some folks out there do it wrong and with exploitation as their key driving factor. This is not our motivation or intent. Don't judge us based on fears that may not turn out to be true."

Pitchford said that Gearbox hasn't committed to in-game advertising for any of its upcoming titles and that the deal will only allow Double Fusion to contact the studio with proposals. Furthermore, he said any possible deal would need to benefit the game, whether through increased authenticity (like vintage corporate logos on historically accurate factories in Brothers-in-Arms), increased budgets to make better games, or out-of-game promotion, such as the Halo-themed Mountain Dew flavor.

320 Comments

  • aarow82

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 6:06 pm PT

    They aren't forced to put ads in the games, they are contacted about proposals for putting them in. Also it helps, as stated in the article, that for historic ads Double Fusion can help out. Plus ads in game do fit sometimes, e.g. billboards on the side of the road just like in real life. Plus it gives us somehting else to shoot at in a game.

  • taxman25

    Posted Sep 24, 2008 11:02 am PT

    I don't have a problem with in game ads as long as they are realistic to the game. We have to remember that these companies are in business to make money. If they don't make money they go out of business and can't produce any more games. For instance say a game takes 8 months to make. You have to pay the development team(even if you only have 5 people the average salary is $40,000-$80,000/yr depending on experience),advertising the game,printing the game,shipping it to stores. How many copies would they have to sell just to break even on the cost for that game.

  • division_9

    Posted Aug 23, 2008 12:38 pm PT

    As long as they dont force you to look at an advertisement for about 5 seconds like GameSpot then its just fine. And besides, one who hates in game billboards does not realise the value of money. Ads = Money, More Money = More content(in most canses) and More Content = More Quality(in most cases).

  • bfme2_master

    Posted Jun 4, 2008 8:10 am PT

    martianrobot:
    do you know how worthless the deutschmark was at that time? at one point it was 19.8 trillion marks to 1 dollar. thats like giving a hobo some change automatically makes you guys best friends. wtf

  • joe_ender

    Posted May 10, 2008 9:46 am PT

    in game adds are the worst not only do they get my money for the game but someone pays them more when i play, bs, also the hitman adds in R6V for hit man made me want to hurt myself

  • arou_ghamazer

    Posted May 7, 2008 3:21 am PT

    who cares..

  • WizengamotX

    Posted Apr 17, 2008 4:50 pm PT

    If Gearbox was truely into defending itself, it would allow us the courtesy by posting some in-game screenshots or including some advertisements in a gameplay video or demo. Gamers need to see how the logos are going to fit in with the surroundings just as much as they need to see realistic surroundings. Advertising has the potential to make games more realistic, i.e. Michelin in a racing game speedway billboard, Coca-Cola billboard in a WWII game, etc. As long as it isn't too frequent and there are a variety of companies, it would be fine. I just don't want to see a Nike advertisement in Halo 4 or a Disney logo in Assassin's Creed 2, especially if the promotions are limited to one to three companies and are shown frequently. There is nothing more annoying than the same logo every turn.

  • martianrobot

    Posted Apr 5, 2008 8:13 am PT

    -----------------
    MarShionnach:

    Sure, I can see it now. "Help the war effort, buy the new Ford Fusion and stop the Axis in it's tracks!"
    ---------------------

    LOL! Not only would this ad be an anachronism, but it would be highly innacurate, considering the mutual admiration Henry Ford & Adolf Hitler had for each other.

    Did you know Henry Ford made Hitler birthday gifts of 50,000 marks?

    More here:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/may/10/foreignpolicy.usa

  • martianrobot

    Posted Apr 5, 2008 7:56 am PT

    In-game advertising is nothing new - anybody remember that full-priced Amiga game that was basically a Quavers advert?

    However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't suck. In-game advertising is as bad as product placement in films and TV. My least favourite example is the rooftop 'tears in the rain' scene in Bladerunner. The best scene of the film reduced to a commercial for TDK. Shocking.

    To be honest, I'm quite surprised that people will accept it in sports games, because it makes it seem more 'authentic'. I think the amount of advertising is sports coverage is absolutely appalling... all those logos plastered on everything is just memetic pollution. The last time I watched a footie match I had to turn it off as all the animated adverttising on the pitch-side ad boards made me feel ill.

    For games publishers to say that it will make games better by bringing in more money is absolute piffle... it just boosts their profits. Surely the fact that we are paying £39.99+ for a single game means that it should be free of any kind of sales pitch.

    This sort of advertising pollutes our cultural environment and our personal mindspace. Just say no, kids!

  • Jimmyjit

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 10:37 am PT

    If, and only if they used AD's from that era, like say...a coke ad from 1942 on a building that was blown up and missing half the ad that would add to the experiance. But Adding "Watch Flavor Flav " this Fall while walking in France on a mission-- someone needs to be scolded.

  • harrygordon1000

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 6:25 am PT

    I think being marketed to whilst you're immersed in a game can really damage the atmosphere - I mean, nothing kills the post-apocalyptic-war ambiance quite like a giant Sure deodorant ad plastered across the side of a building (my first experience of in-game ads).

    Maybe they're better off on the loading screen? Can you imagine trekking through Azeroth and encountering a Pepsi Max bill board inside the Chamber of Sorrow?

    I can understand the wish of gamers to reduce the price of games but it really isn't worth it...

  • MarShionnach

    Posted Apr 4, 2008 5:52 am PT

    Sure, I can see it now. "Help the war effort, buy the new Ford Fusion and stop the Axis in it's tracks!"

    That "We can make better games because of the increased economic stimuli" is a bunch of garbage. The only way you'll see profits from those ads increase production potential in games is if you happen to go play Marco Polo in Pitchford's new pool.

  • pidow

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 1:16 pm PT

    Keep the ads for TV, radio, etc., not in the games I select to play. I purchased the game to play not see ads for things I will never buy.

  • gamegoliath

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:23 am PT

    I just don't want to see a bunch of ads where they shouldn't be or repeated everywhere in a game, so it doesn't seem real or believable. But if you are walking by a store or something, you would see ads in real life, so why not? Or on the highway or TV. Blend it well, and don't make it look so obvious that all you are trying to do is take my money, and I won't mind. Actually I think it's pretty cool, as long as it is giving more to us gamers and not just adding cash to other peoples pockets. I just don't want to see the same damn ad a hundred times every time I play a game for 15 minutes. Think about it - if it works - maybe we'll start seeing better done games since the company's could get money for putting other peoples ads in the game, and if the game was good they could make it even better. I support in-game ads, just please do it right.

  • Cabal23

    Posted Apr 3, 2008 5:05 am PT

    The saddest thing is gamers are probably the most informed group of consumers. We live and breath advertising on computers and on tv. But I have always wondered who is it that buys products based on adverts? I mean take tampons for example. Don't women already know what tampons they like? Is adevrtising really going to sway them? Food is different. There have times when my wife and I have been watching tv and seen a Taco Bell ad and went....mmm I'm hungry now for TB. But gaming? You are playing a game, your mind is not taking the time to process adverts. I say let they advertise all they want. Just keep it out of games that it doesn't make sense in. Oh wait I have to pause my game and go buy hitman on blu-ray. Sounds like a buch of high paid execs trying to hold onto their jobs by coming up with the hippest advertisings.

  • runninman

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:27 pm PT

    I agree with all of this as well
    An example of an out-of-place ad happened to me recently.
    I was playing Double Agent over Live, and while I was running around a level, I saw this massive ad for the Hitman DVD telling me how I should buy it on Blu-Ray NOW!
    I say as others are: If it reduces the cost of the game and ISN'T out of place, I'm all for it

  • starfoxmcleoud

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 1:51 pm PT

    Completely agree with you Cabal23! It might be cool to have some things like a Burger King billboard or a Gilette razor van in Burnout Paradise. But when you start putting things ilke that in Brothers in Arms, that's where it goes beyond retarted! There's a place for advertising, and there's a place not for it. Some video games it blends in with, others it's merely a distraction. And if the corporate world is that desperate, then they need to turn to other methods of advertising. As for the Mt Dew Game Fuel (the Halo themed Mountain Dew flavor), BRING IT BACK!!!!!!!!!!

  • Cabal23

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:16 am PT

    Buying things because they are in a game is silly. What are you lemmings? When is the last time you bought a product because it was in a game?

  • Cabal23

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 11:13 am PT

    Has any gamer felt compelled to buy a product based on in-game ads? I think not.

  • nickelarcade

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 10:36 am PT

    if we keep buying games with in game ads, snake will eventually snap into a slim jim

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